Personal

This year, I tried to read 50 books. I only finished 45, but I wanted to tell you about my favorites—the cream of crop.
Fiction
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
During WWII, 70 different publishing companies got together to create an Armed Services Edition to send to soldiers fighting on the frontlines. This was one of the books chosen because of its ability to … [Read More...]

My husband Ethan and I love to hike. He posts snapshots of those hikes on social media, but I’ve always thought it might be nice to tell the story of the hikes behind the pictures. So, thanks to the inspiration of another hiking friend who is also a far more prolific writer than I am (go to his blog here), I thought I might finally write a bit about some of our hikes and … [Read More...]

Before you begin reading, please know that I am coming from a place of love, not of judgment. Also, like every other imperfect human being in the world, I struggle on a regular basis with living a balanced life of love and truth consistently. In essence, I’m a hypocrite-- down in the trenches alongside everybody else who's trying to figure things out.
A few days ago, … [Read More...]

I’d like to tell you a story, but I would like to start near the end of the story because really, it’s closest to the beginning.
It was an oddly warm morning this past October and like almost all mornings, I took my dog Aera for a walk. I decided to go to the outdoor track behind the YMCA because I needed a change of scenery from our usual places. One of the best … [Read More...]

As with every year, I like to reflect upon the best of the best books I read throughout the year. This year, out of the 30+ books I read, it was very difficult to narrow down because they were all very good. Not a single one was bad or poorly written, so those books categorized as “Worst” simply did not live up to my expectations. As always, these are my biased … [Read More...]

About the Author

I grew up in a crazy southern family of seven brothers and a sister; needless to say, I'm a tomboy, a feminist of the Susan B. Anthony variety, and only once lost an arm-wrestling match to a girl. By day, I'm a music teacher in Lancaster, and by night, I write stories. Between growing up in … Read More